1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with coke ovens and, in particular, with devices for cleaning coke oven doors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coke ovens are generally equipped at their ends with refractory lined doors which are removeable to allow a charge to be pushed from the oven on completion of the coking process. These doors have a peripheral metal seal ring which has a laterally extending body portion and an inwardly flanged knife edge which abuts the coke oven door jamb to form a gas tight seal between the door and the oven. While it is essential that this seal be maintained to prevent the escape of pollutants from inside the oven, it is found that a viscous, tarry distillation product of the coking operation, as well as a certain amount of a hard carbonaceous deposit, may tend to accumulate on this peripheral seal ring and disturb the seal. In order to ensure the maintenance of a positive seal, it is necessary that these deposits be periodically removed.
Various coke oven door cleaning devices are known in the art. In particular, certain devices are adapted for cleaning the refractory lining of the door and other devices are adapted for the right and left, vertical sections of the seal ring while still other devices are used on the top and bottom, horizontal sections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,760, for example, discloses a door cleaner for the top and bottom horizontal sections of the seal ring. This device includes a cleaning head having a number of angled side by side chisel-like blades, the end sections of which are fixed to a pivoting member so that these blades can traverse an arcuate path from the bottom or the top side of the seal ring to its side section. This device also includes a carriage for transporting the cleaning head in a reciprocal back and forth motion along the top or the bottom of the seal ring. This carriage is pivotally attached to the cleaning head and it includes a drive means to move it back and forth on slides or rollers in a path parallel to the door. Additionally, this device is equipped with a supporting ram which is fixed to the carriage on the side opposite from the cleaning head so as to move the carriage and the cleaning head toward and away from the surface to be cleaned. While the above described device has been found to effectively clean coke oven door seal rings, it does require relatively careful cleaning and maintenance since the large amount of dirt and dust found in the vicinity of coke ovens might tend to cause failures in one or more of the several moving parts found on this device. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a reliable, easily maintained device which effectively cleans coke oven seal rings and, in particular, the top and bottom, hroizontal sections of such seal rings.